On Saturday I ran more miles than I have children, which is a lot! In a cold driving rain my brothers, husband and I ran a 10k road race in Central Park. The race was a part of Scotland Week in New York City, which was pretty funny because 1 -- none of us are Scottish and 2 -- there were runners in kilts. My husband held back and ran with me, and without him I would surely have quit, he is my coach in more ways than one, there were times during the race where it was eerily similar to being in labor, same misery, same dispair of finishing, same encouragement and bad jokes! In the end, though, it was a wonderful experience, I sprinted to make my goal time at the finish, and I would do it again. All of the runners on this blog have been a tremendous inspiration for me, and I am so thankful for the addition of running to my life.
Here we are, back at my mother's house, where we got to enjoy hot showers and yummy pizza. The next morning we celebrated the Resurrection by attending mass with my grandmother (so special) and indulging in an extravagant brunch with my family. The only thing missing from our Easter was a lamb shaped coconut cake, but I have decided tonight that since Easter lasts for many weeks I am going to keep celebrating Easter throughout the liturgical season by baking every weekend, which will mean I have to keep up those long runs!
13 comments:
Isn't it 6.4 miles? Give yourself due credit, you insane woman.
I agree with Awol: don't short change yourself, Mary Alice. I guess I will haul the kids out today in the jogger - thanks for the inspiration! Seeing as I only have four kiddoes - I will aim for 4 miles.
A big congrats! I'm so glad it went well. You all look great in the photo.
Way to go Mary Alice!! What an accomplishment... Seeing the photo after it was all over makes me SO want to be part of your family. What a beautiful brood! You and Mr. Mary Alice are surely making your children so proud. Congrats!! (and an FYI, it is 6.2!)
So, B-Mama, I guess you are going to have 13 children?
Wow, MaryAlice, that's amazing! All of you look great, what a great day for your entire family, congratulations!
Wow, MaryAlice, that's amazing! All of you look great, what a great day for your entire family, congratulations!
6.2., you're very right. I was thinking of the conversion from 4 miles to 6.4 km. Thanks, B-Mama.
Wow! This postpartum momma wants to know when you started running after the baby....I gotta catch up to my husband who is losing weight like crazy in Iraq! : )
Thanks for all the prayers....I delivered a healthy baby girl on Good Friday "naturally"- its not really natural with pitocin!
Pitocin without an epidural--that's going beyond natural! Congrats MargaretJDMom on your new baby!
Margaret,
Congrats on the birth of your baby girl! You were in my prayers and I am so glad you checked in and let us know how things went. I guess if you had to have pitocin, Good Friday is the day to do it.
Red
Margaret _
Congratulations, and don't think about running for a while! Enjoy your baby moon. Remember, technically you are not supposed to even do housework for six weeks!
At that six week visit, after they are finished laughing at you for declining contraception, you should talk to the experts about what you can do when, but I would say take it slow and listen to your body.
I walked throughout my pregnancy and then started again by walking, I walked for several weeks postpartum before I began to run, and my first few runs were short and slow. When walking no longer feels like a challenge, that's a good time to add in some jogging intervals.
I have learned that everyone from elite runners to beginners can really benefit from interval training. This is where you push your body for a short period of time and then recover, then do it again. Recently, I read that when you are getting started running you can just jog and then as soon as you are winded (perhaps as short as 30-60 seconds) switch to walking until you catch your breath, then do it again. This is good for me since I am really not that into calculating or watching a clock. If you want a more precise training program, "couch to 5K" is a good thing to look for, even if you are not specifically training for a race. If you are postpartum, take it really slow and be prepared to repeat weeks if you are being pushed too hard, breakthrough bleeding is usually a sign that you are doing too much.
Eventually, your periods of running can get longer and the recovery shorter until you are running for 30 minutes, which is a great fitness goal. At that point, intervals are still really helpful for conditioning, you can even use them in place of some long runs in a distance training program if time is short.
One last thing, between us girls, I found that a nightly routine of knee push ups was extremely helpful for tightening up my core and pelvic floor, which was crucial to my being able to run, or do anything else, comfortably. Google one hundred push up program for a training guide.
Congrats to MA and Margaret! May I ask, what flag is painted on your face?
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